Trump says Maduro copied his dance, Melania disapproves

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro of imitating his dancing while also condemning him for alleged violence, in a freewheeling speech to Republican lawmakers.

"He gets up there and he tries to imitate my dance a little bit," Trump said at the Kennedy Center in Washington, which was recently renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by its board.

"But he's a violent guy, and he's killed millions of people. He's tortured. They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they're closing up."

Trump did not provide details about the alleged torture chamber or his plans for U.S. involvement in Venezuela following Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces on Saturday.

Maduro had regularly appeared on stage dancing to a techno remix of his mantra "No War, Yes Peace" as U.S. forces mobilized in the Caribbean in late 2025. Trump is known for dancing to the disco song "Y.M.C.A." at his rallies.

While Trump praised the special forces raid, much of his speech focused on the 2026 U.S. midterm elections and his policy priorities.

"My wife hates when I do this," Trump said, performing an exaggerated imitation of a transgender weightlifter while discussing his administration's ban on transgender women from women’s sports. "She said, 'it's so unpresidential.'"

He added: "She hates it when I dance," and said, "Could you imagine FDR dancing?" — a reference to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was paralyzed from the waist down by polio.

The speech coincided with the fifth anniversary of the 6 January 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, for which Trump was impeached a second time.